U.S. Department of Labor Awards $40 Million In Strengthening Community College Training Grants

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of $40 million through the Strengthening Community College Training Grants program to build the capacity of community colleges to meet labor market demand for a skilled workforce.

As the nation recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, community colleges are critical partners for the public workforce system to train the American workforce and build a pipeline of workers in critical industries such as health care, logistics and cybersecurity. The Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants aim to address the skill development needs of employers and to support workers in gaining skills and transitioning quickly from unemployment to employment. The grants also build the capacity of community colleges to address challenges associated with the pandemic, such as expanding online and technology-enabled learning.  

“The Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants will play an important role in helping workers to reskill as quickly as possible with industry-recognized credentials and accelerated pathways to degrees,” said Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training John Pallasch. “These grants are among the range of actions the Department is taking to aid American workers and employers as our nation combats the coronavirus pandemic.” 

Grant recipients are individual community colleges or a consortium of community colleges undertaking capacity building and systems change at the institutional or state level, respectively. Both consortia and single institutions will work with required workforce development system partners and employer partners to train a broad spectrum of workers, including dislocated workers, incumbent workers and new entrants to the workforce.

The Strengthening Community College Training Grants recipients are as follows:

Section 169(c) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act funds the Strengthening Community College Training Grants program with awards ranging from up to $2 million for single institutions and up to $5 million for consortium applicants.